St. Landry democrat., 1887-07-16
ARION THE LUTlST.
His Poetical Contest at Tarentum Retoio'
A Thrilling Escape.

One pecuuarlty Oh tHe behIloA0AA
figure in the classics is that most OF tnem
have but one name.
The modern method Of saddling helpless
infant with triple and quadruple pranomlna
had not come into vogue.
This was all the more singular when we
consider that people were scarcer then ana
consequently there were more names TO go
round. But economy was the rule, and only
very rich people could afford to sign TWO
names to check.
One of these gentlemen of the days gone
by is known to US as Arion an easy name
warranted to wear, and guaranteed never to
rip in the seams or bag at the knees.
Arion was an expert player on the clthara
and other instruments of torture. He was,
also, the inventor of dithyrambic poetry but
he seems never to Lave been arrested for his
crimes.
The cithara was identical with the lutte,
machine which by either name sounds just
as excrucating.
a great many gee clubs and similar organ
izationS have been named after AriOn-a
long time after him, however for was 300
years ago that he carried on his nefarious
business.
Arion was poet laureate to Periand@ King
OF COrinth. This monarch was very proud
OF his laureates skill, and frequently ex-
pressed willingness to back him against all
corners for heavy stakes and the entire gate
money.
This desire Of Perianders resulted in ten
days go-as-you-pIea>e contest at Tarentum.
in Western Pennsylvania. if which Arion
was entered. our hero made his poetic feet
fly So nlmbly that he Won all the prizes. Not
only this. but periandtr had furnished him
with large sums Of money to bet on himself
and the result of the contest together with
Arion judico,ls investment of this money
made the Tarentum book makers feel very
sick.
Arion then left for home in a happy frame
Of mind and Cornthian ship. carrying
with him bag full of specie. which he had
unWiSely neglected to exchange for a letter
of credit.
1t seems that the sailors had become soaked
with Communistic ideas in some way, for
they held a meeting and decided to transfer
ArOn,s wealth to their own bank account,
and, as a preliminary, to slay AriOn.
There seems to have been no provocationto
this rash act on Arions part, as there is no
mention that be attempted to recite any
dithvrambics to them.
They simply wanted his Doodle.
The sailors wicked plot was revealed to
Arion in dream by Apollo, gentleman
who at that time was doing a large business
in the heather deity line.
When Aron heard Of the scheme he was
quite frightened. and his face instantly as
sumed a resemblance to his name.
1t became wry 'un.
But he membered the words of Congreve.
"Music hath charms to soothe the savage
breast" and determined to give the sailors
dose of melody. well rubbed m
If any hypercritical reader should object
that Congreye was not living at that time,
and, indeed, not until several years later and
that Arion consequently could not quote any
ching that he said, have only to observe
that Arion was enabled to do this by the ex-
ercise of the poets license, which was even
higher in his day than at present, and per
mitted more departures from veracitv than
would now be allowable. In fact. great
many ancient poems consisted wholly of va
riatiOns. with no trace whatever of veracity.
But l am depressing. To resume the
story
Arion trotted out his lutte and began the
concert not even waiting until the breakfast
things had been cleared away. CntOrtu-
nately, however, his success was not of large
dimensions. The soothing stop on the in
strument was out of order, and the savage
breast did not soothe to any perceptible ex-
oil A ,>1o ho
Prayer" "Grandfather's Clock" ''SOme
Day and all the other heart breakers he
could think of.
Still the bloodthirsty mariners sat, with
determination on their faces and their hands
on their navy revolvers. They were too
polite to interrupt the concert. Anxious to
imbrue their hands in musical gore they yet
fondly hoping that each successive
number would end Arion's repertoire, while
he saturated them with samples from all the
leading music factories with which he was
acquainted.
At last he began on "Sweet Violets, but
he did not finish single blossom. The
mariners were as patient a set of assassins
as could be wished for, but there was limit
to their endurance.
Although it was loot they wanted, Arion
gave them too much lutte. They drew the
line at Sweet Violets," and their pistols ats
Arion.
The latter thinking to himself, 'Nowst the
time for disappearing" jumped into the
sea.
Here he was received by committee OF
dolphlns, who had been listening to the
concert without paying the admission fee.
They presented him with testimonials OF
their appreciation, and offered him tree
to Tanarus, from which
point he could foot it to Corinth, as the dol
phins seldom ventured on land.
Arion gratefully accepted the offer, andthe
fishes beat the ships time to land As Arlon
was obliged to walk from Tpnarus to Corlnth,
while the sailors took the cars, the latter
arrived first, but the former got home Just III
lime to hear the sailors explain to Fernandez
hat the poet was killed in collision with Il"
vessel belonging to the United States navy
Arion denied the truth of this story, which
Vas absurd on the face of it, and at last sue
,eeded in showing the sailors that they were
This incident created prejudice IN the
mind of Perander against the crew, ana ne